Skip to main content
Data Backup and RecoveryDisaster Recovery Planning

Does Your Business Have IT Disaster Recovery Training In Place?

By November 4, 2022September 19th, 2024No Comments

A disaster can come in so many ways. Natural disasters, accidents, computer issues, or human error.

Your data is the most essential asset in your business, and you likely can’t afford to have your operations halted for days, weeks or even months due to data loss or corruption.

Is your IT Disaster Recovery Plan up to date?  More importantly, do you have an IT Disaster Recovery Training program in place? 

A great example is one that was recently published by the Toronto Stock Exchange.  On November 1st, the TSX halted trading because of an issue affecting securities starting with M-S characters. 9 minutes after the first alert they activated their Incident Management Procedure and 5 mins later they already had communications sent out to stakeholders.

Take a look at their incident report here.

IT Disaster Recovery Training

When designing an IT Disaster Recovery Training program, always consider the type of information or knowledge that is required by the employees, contractors, visitors, managers and individuals who have a role in the DR Plan. An example of what the topics should include are:

  • Threats, hazards, and protective actions.
  • Evacuation, shelter and accountability procedures.
  • Notification, warning and communications procedures.
  • Emergency response procedures.
  • Location and use of common emergency equipment.
  • Emergency shutdown procedures

General Employee Training

Once business owners understand the importance of training, be sure the message comes from the top so that employees understand training is not something to be taken lightly, and that attendance or participation is mandatory. The below should be communicated to all employees:

  • How to access the VPN, or the company cloud service if they need to work remotely until the emergency situation has subsided
  • How to contact other employees if needed (keep an updated employee contact list and distribute)
  • How to access other means of communication, such as an emergency voicemail recording that provides situation updates for employees

Depending on the size of the organization, training and drills can be held with all employees at once (minus IT) or an employee training schedule can be created. Some drill procedures that can be conducted include how to:

  • Switch over to alternate power
  • Check uninterrupted power supply (UPS) backup devices
  • Test alternate internet connections
  • Access replicated data they may have stored in the cloud

 IT Disaster Recovery Training for Employees

The IT department is instrumental in maintaining business continuity and keeping systems available and accessible during a disaster; so, IT employees are going to have a much larger role to play in any emergency.

Depending on the size of the company, training and drills may need to be broken out into multiple sessions.  Regular drills for IT staff may include testing:

  • Failover of any data or systems replicated to a cloud service
  • Restoration snapshots of virtual servers
  • Battery power by placing systems on a battery and seeing how long they can run

Because a well-trained IT staff is critical to a successful disaster recovery strategy, be sure to keep a log of each employee that has attended the sessions. 

Considering Disaster Recovery as a Service

Disaster recovery planning and training can be a daunting task, especially for small and mid-size businesses. That’s why in the past, business owners would choose to risk it all.  But today, some companies turn to disaster recovery training classes, or look to a cloud provider that offers DR as a Service.  Reis Informatica can offer easy implementation, 24/7 access to IT experts,  fast recovery times, high levels of security, accessibility, and peace of mind. 

Let Reis help you set up your IT Disaster Recovery Training program to help your employees thrive when it comes to cybersecurity.  Schedule a cyber security assessment with one of our experienced technicians today and see how Reis can help!